Very surprising IF results- 5 month tale

JakeBrownVB

Hi peeps.

I would like to present the experiance I have had over the past 5 months and to ask what you guys make of it.

I am a 20 year old 6 foot male who started at 212 pounds and I am now 168 pounds.

I began the first 3 or so months on calories of rougly 1800, made up of 200g protein, 120g carbs, 70g fat and stuck to it like a boss. I lost weight each and every week without fail (around 2 pounds). I then came across intermittent fasting through a friend who had amazing results with it and saw great things on the web. I decided to start it because it was also going to be a lot more conveniant for my lifestyle just to eat between 4-9pm feeding window rather than trying to haul cold meat and veg to work (shiver...) and I really did enjoy the timing of the meals much more.

So I began IF and a week later (I only step on scales every saturday morning) I suddenly lost no weight.. I was a bit shocked as I had lost weight every single week for the past 3 months, so I thought meh its a new diet I am prob retaining water or something.

Next week I am the same weight.. and the next... in fact a whole dang month of IF and I lost no weight! I asked for advice on forums and people said that meal timing has ABSOLUTE NO EFFECT ON WEIGHT LOSS!!!!... They really drilled that point home.. and that I have just platued off.

Anyhow I thought I would go back to six small meals day and see if this was the case.. I weighed myself a week later.. and guess what? the scales were 3 pounds lighter! another week passed after that and I lost another 2 pounds! in fact I have gone back to consistently loosing weight each week.. coincidence? I think not

So... meal timings have no effect on weight loss?? excuse me if I no longer believe the people who told me that.

P.S. Not criticizing IF as I know my mate lost so much more weight on it then small meals and I am kinda dissapointed it stalled my weight loss for a month because I did really enjoy it

jadethief

There are so many variables when it comes to weight loss that it would be hard to say what effect, if any, IF had on your experience.

It may be that it was all coincidence that you plateaued right as you started a new diet regimen. I just came off a 6 week stall myself and I didn't change anything about the way I was eating.

It could be that your body responds better to smaller meals throughout the day.

Weight loss is neither linear or consistent and different things will work (or not) for different people.

Good job on your progress so far!

(edited for typo)

55in13

Atypical anecdotes don't overturn studies. There is outlying data. At the end of your story you say you know someone whose experience pretty much cancels out yours. IF works for some people and not for others mostly due to strict adherence or lack thereof. The meal timing myth has been disproven by so much data it isn't funny. They figured out they had a lot of data that could be mined for this (patient records, studies for other reasons that recorded specific ties and amounts, etc). I am glad you have found something that works for you.

JakeBrownVB

I certainly agree that if you round up 200 people.. stuck 100 of them on IF and 100 of them on small meals at the same caloric deficit. I am certain that they would average the same weight loss and hence the study would state "meal timings have no effect on weight loss".. however I do not believe a study of averages can conclusively state wether meal timings effect weight loss INDIVIDUALLY. I expect in the example i gave above that some people who lost no weight on IF would have lost weight on small meals and vice versa.

So like jadethief says.. it is individual experiance and how your body responds to certain timings and I think that because certain people (like myself and others I know) loose more weight on certain timings that meal timing DO in fact have an effect on weight loss at an individual level.. but not at a group level.

momzeeee

8:16 IF by itself (or any other window IF ) is NOT a weight loss plan. You still have to reduce your calories, within your eating window. Now 5:2 and alternate day IF have calorie restrictions as part of their plans, but these are a different forms of IF.

I did alternate day IF and lost 46 lbs. I do 8:16 IF now for maintenance and love it, but I'm not trying to lose weight anymore

JakeBrownVB

I know this

I did not change my calories during IF as to what I was on during small meals. So that is not a variable that could explain the results that I got.

momzeeee

I know this

I did not change my calories during IF as to what I was on during small meals. So that is not a variable that could explain the results that I got.

Ah, I thought you meant that you stopped counting calories when you switched- thanks for clarifying Meal timing really shouldn't matter, as long as your calories are on target. Strange!

JakeBrownVB

Yeah I really thought so as well. I am now so unsure as to wether it was IF that stalled my weight loss or just a massive coincidence my plateu started and stopped the very same weeks (it seeems too hard to believe) I switched diets. I am almost tempted to get back to IF just for curiosity to see if my weight stalls again but I dont want to keep messing my meal timings around

LolBroScience

Hi peeps.

I would like to present the experiance I have had over the past 5 months and to ask what you guys make of it.

I am a 20 year old 6 foot male who started at 212 pounds and I am now 168 pounds.

I began the first 3 or so months on calories of rougly 1800, made up of 200g protein, 120g carbs, 70g fat and stuck to it like a boss. I lost weight each and every week without fail (around 2 pounds). I then came across intermittent fasting through a friend who had amazing results with it and saw great things on the web. I decided to start it because it was also going to be a lot more conveniant for my lifestyle just to eat between 4-9pm feeding window rather than trying to haul cold meat and veg to work (shiver...) and I really did enjoy the timing of the meals much more.

So I began IF and a week later (I only step on scales every saturday morning) I suddenly lost no weight.. I was a bit shocked as I had lost weight every single week for the past 3 months, so I thought meh its a new diet I am prob retaining water or something.

Next week I am the same weight.. and the next... in fact a whole dang month of IF and I lost no weight! I asked for advice on forums and people said that meal timing has ABSOLUTE NO EFFECT ON WEIGHT LOSS!!!!... They really drilled that point home.. and that I have just platued off.

Anyhow I thought I would go back to six small meals day and see if this was the case.. I weighed myself a week later.. and guess what? the scales were 3 pounds lighter! another week passed after that and I lost another 2 pounds! in fact I have gone back to consistently loosing weight each week.. coincidence? I think not

So... meal timings have no effect on weight loss?? excuse me if I no longer believe the people who told me that.

P.S. Not criticizing IF as I know my mate lost so much more weight on it then small meals and I am kinda dissapointed it stalled my weight loss for a month because I did really enjoy it

As pointed out, it's not the IF. It's pure coincidence.... weight loss is never linear and im certain if you were to have continued eventually your weight would've budged. It's not uncommon to hit a few sticking points through a cut where you need to readjust your macros...

JakeBrownVB

Well my opinion (based on personal experiance and the experiances of others) is I cant see it being a coincidence. I know people personally who have lost more weight on certain timings or certain macros then they did on other schedules. There is more to it then just calories in vs calories out.. just has to be..

55in13

Well my opinion (based on personal experiance and the experiances of others) is I cant see it being a coincidence. I know people personally who have lost more weight on certain timings or certain macros then they did on other schedules. There is more to it then just calories in vs calories out.. just has to be..

Physicists would argue that there does not have to be. I think belief matters. I know a few people who absolutely believe there is an inherent advantage to IF and it works wonderfully for them. It works for me even though I don't think there is. I tend to abuse it to some degree, sometimes skipping a meal or two and not adjusting calories to make up for it. That's why I don't do it all the time. So of course it works great for me, because I change the equation. But if the numbers are the same, the results should be also.